On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $88.20 a barrel at 0535 GMT, up $0.41 in the Globex electronic session. January Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.57 to $91.05 a barrel.

Many analysts said a further rise is unlikely, citing caution among traders.

Daiichi Shohin analyst Koichi Murakami said, "The gains are likely to be capped around $90/barrel, as the market is sluggish...Traders do not want to move large positions in the thin volume. If there is a further rise above $90, it will be after the New Year."

China's National Bureau of Statistics confirmed Monday that the country's refinery runs totaled 36.65 million metric tons in November, equivalent to a record 8.95 million barrels a day. It was up 10.3% from a year earlier.

This brought China's crude runs in the January-November period to 384.6 million tons, up 13.6% compared with the same period last year.

Asian stocks were mostly higher Monday, with the Sydney market supported by banking stocks' gains while shares in China rallied as investors took comfort in more clarity on the economic policy front.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.1%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.4%, South Korea's Kospi Composite added 0.1% and New Zealand's NZX-50 was 0.6% higher. The Shanghai Composite index was up 1.3% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.4%.

While neither the data from China nor stock markets' performance necessarily directly boosted crude prices, they do help brighten sentiment on top of hopes of U.S. economic recovery, said Daiichi Shohin's Murakami.

At the very least, the China data will give traders the sense that growth will continue in the world's largest energy consumer, "and the dollar will continue to flood the global market," said Koichiro Kamei, an analyst with consultancy Market Strategy Institute in Tokyo.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.